Shoe fastening device



Dec. 3, 1963 L, WILLIAMS 3,112,545

' SHOE FASTENING DEVICE Filed April 15, 1963 INVENTOR.

United States Patent 3,112,545 SHOE FASTENING DEVICE Luther Williams, 7340 S. indiana Ave., Chicago, Ill. Filed Apr. 15, 1953, Ser. No. 273,095 6 Claims. (Cl. 24-205) This invention relates to a shoe fastening device, and more particularly to a device which rnay be readily installed in a shoe and which device may be easily and quickly opened and closed -to facilitate the loosening and closing of the shoe.

Although shoes and boots utilizing laces have been used for many years an-d various substitutes for laces have been propounded, none of these substitutes have been widely accepted. The use of a slide fastener in a shoe or boot has been recognized. For instance, `certain United States military air borne troops who wear jump boots have slide fasteners permanently installed in their boots to facilitate putting on and removal of the boots. One disadvantage to the permanent installation of a slide fastener is that all slide fasteners have elongated fabric strips as a portion of the slide fastener. These fabric strips through constant usage tend to Wear out long before the shoe or boot is ready yto be discarded. In order to install a new slide fastener, a considerable amount of effort must be expended so that the cost of installing a new slide fastener is substantial. Various schemes are provided for inexpensively substituting a slide fastener for laces in a shoe or boot, such as, using laces to install the slide fastener into the portion normally occupied by laces, but using the slide fastener to loosen and tighten the shoe or boot. Through these schemes are satisfactory, one problem inherent in the slide fastener is that it has no elasticity. It is desirable to provide a certain amount of elasticity to the upper portion of the shoe so that the wearer has a more comfortable fit. It is apparent that if the shoe or boot is too tight, `the wearers foot is uncomfortable and, of course, if it is too loose, the shoe or boot has a tendency to slip and blisters or callouses may develop on the wearers foot. It is, therefore, a principal object of the herein disclosed invention to provide a shoe fastening device which allows for quick loosening and closing of the shoe and, also, provides for a fastener which provides resilience to the upper portion of the shoe to give increased comfort to the wearers foot.

rIt is a further object of the present invention to provide a shoe fastening device which may be readily and rapidly mounted in a shoe in a place ordinarily provided for laces.

It is a still further object of ythis invention to provide a shoe fastening device which is inexpensive to manufacture and may be readily installed.

Other objects and uses of the instant invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon a perusal of the following specification in light of the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a shoe with a shoe fastening device embodying the herein disclosed invention mounted in the shoe;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of a shoe fastening device embodying lthe herein disclosed invention showing the device in an open attitude;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional View taken on line 3 3 of FIGURE l; and

FIGURE 4 is a partial plan View taken on line 4-4 of FIGURE 3.

Referring, now, to the drawings and especially to FIG- URE 2, a shoe fastening device generally indicated by numeral is shown therein.

The shoe fastening device includes a slide fastener 12 which slide fastener includes a pair of elongated fabric ice members 14 and 16. Fabric member 14 has a plurality of -teeth 1K8 fixed to the interior edge of the member, while fabric member 16 has a plurality of teeth 20 fixed to its interior edge. A slide 22 is movably mounted on the fabric members for placing the teeth 20 and A1'8 into and out of engagement with each other in a well known and conventional manner. The slide 22 has a head y24 formed integral therewith and a tab 26 pivotally mounted on the head 24 to provide a 4convenient means for pulling the slide.

Fixed to the outer edge of fabric member 14 is a plurality of elastic strips 28. As may be seen in FIGURE 3, the elastic strips are fixed to the bottom or the side ofthe fabric member 14 which is opposite the head 24 of the slide fastener. A second plurality of elastic strips 30 is fixed to the outer edge of fabric member 16. The elastic strips 3) are also fixed Vto the bottom or the side of the fabric member which is opposite the head 24.

Mounted on each of the elastic strips is a pair of hooks 32. Each hook 32 contains a base portion 34 which has a pair of eyes 36 formed therein. The eyes form a convenient means for receiving thread for fastening Ithe hook to its respective elastic strip. Each hook is xed to the same side of the elastic strip as its respective fabric member. `Opposite the base portion of each hook is a hook portion 38. -It may be seen in FIGURE 2 that the hooks are attache-d to the fabric strips 28 in such a manner so that they face the hooks attached to fabric strips 30, i.e., open ends of the hooks face each other for reasons which will become apparent hereinafter.

Looking now to FIGURE l it may be seen that a conventional shoe 4t) has the device l1li mounted therein. 'Ihe conventional shoe 40 has a first plurali-ty of eyelets 42 on one side of an upper portion of the shoe and a second plurality of eyelets 44 on the opposite side thereof. Conventionally, laces are placed through the eyelets `42 and 44 to hold opposite edges of the upper together thereby holding the shoe on the wearers foot. The shoe has a tongue 46 which is below the open space in the upper.

The instant device is mounted on the shoe by placing ythe hooks 38 which are attached to the fabric member 14 in eyelets 42. The hooks which are attached to the other fabric member 16 are positioned in eyelets 44. A wearers foot is positioned in the shoe and the slide 22 is pulled up so that the teeth 18 are placed into engagement with and hooked to teeth 20. Thereby, `the opposite sides of the upper portion of the shoe are connected to each other by means of the shoe fastening device.

-It maybe noted that the instant device provides a high degree of comfort for the wearer since the hooks are mounted on elastic strips 28 and 30. Thus, there is a certain amount of Vgive to the upper so that the shoe is neither too tight nor too loose.

It may `be noted that since the hooks are attached to the elastic strips on the side away from the wearers foot, the elastic strips insulate the hooks from the tongue of the shoe. Thereby, the hooks do notpress against the tongue to wear on the tongue and the hooks are cushioned from the Wearers foot by both the elastic strips and the tongue.

In order to remove the shoe, it is a simple matter for the wearer to pull the slide down so that the teeth j18 disengage the teeth 20, thereby opening the upper portion of the shoe and the wearers lfoot may slip out of the shoe quite readily. It may be appreciated that the device stays attached to the shoe since the hooks 3'8 are positioned in their respective eyelets. It may be further appreciated that there is a great deal of ease in removing the shoe because once the slide is moved to a down position, the upper is completely open and there is Ino need for further loosening as in the case of laces.

Although a specific embodiment of the herein -disclosed invention has been described in detail herein, it is readily apparent -that those skilled in the art may make various modifications and changes inthe device as shown without departing from the spirit and scope of the instant invention. It is to be expressly understood that the present invention is limited only by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A device of the character described comprising, in combination, an elongated slide fastener including a fabric strip on either side thereof, a resilient strip attached to the outside edges of each of the fabric strips, and a hook attached to each of the resilient strips, said hook having open sides facing each other for receiving adjacent portions of an upper portion of a shoe for mounting the hooks in eyelets of a shoe.

2. A shoe fastening device comprising, in combination, an elongated slide fastener having a xfabric strip on either side thereof, an elastic strip attached to one side of the outside edge of each of the fabric strips, and a plurality of hooks attached to each of the elastic strips on the same side as the respective fabric strips, said hooks on opposite edges of the fabric having their open sides facing each other for mounting the hooks in eyelets of a shoe.

3. A device of the character described comprising, in combination, a slide fastener including a pair of elongated fabric strips, said slide fastener having a slide including a vhead and a tab on one side of the fastener, a plurality of resilient strips connected to and over-lapping the fabric strips on the side opposite the tab of the slide fastener, and a hook connected to each of the resilient strips on the same side of the strip as that connected to its respective fabric strip.

4. A shoe 'fastening device comprising, in combination, an elogated slide fastener including a pair of fabric strips and a slide, a tirst plurality of elastic strips overlapping and attached to one side of one of the elongated fabric strips, a second plurality of elastic strips overlapping and attached to one side of the other of the fabric strips, and a hook attached to each of the elastic strips on the same side of the elastic strip as the side to which the respective elastic strip is attached.

5'. A shoe fastening device comprising, in combination, a plurality of hooks being adapted for mounting in eyelets on one side of an upper of a shoe, a second plurality of hooks for mounting in eyelets on the opposite side. of the upper of the shoe, a iirst plurality of resilient strips being attached to the first mentioned plurality of hooks, a second plurality of resilient strips bein-g attached to the sccond plurality of hooks, a iirst elongated fabric fastener member attached to the first plurality of resilient strips, a second elongated fabric fastener member connected to the second plurality of resilient strips, and a slide fastener releaseafbly connecting opposed edges of the elongated fabric fastener members.

6. A device of the character described comprising, in combination, a plurality of hooks adapted for mounting in eyelets on one side of an upper of a shoe, a second plurality of hooks adapted :for mounting in eyelets on lthe opposite side of the upper of the shoe, a first plurality of resilient strips attached to the iirst mentioned plurality of hooks, each of said resilient strips having the respective hooks attached to one side thereof, a second plurality of resilient strips attached to the second plurality of hooks, each of said second plurality of resilient strips having the respective hooks attached to one side thereof, a first elongated fabric fastener member overlapping and attached to the iirst plurality of resilient strips and being attached to the same side ofthe resilient strips as the respective hooks, la second elongated fabric fastener member overlapping and attached to the second plurality of resilient strips and being attached to the same side of the resilient strips as the respective hooks, and a slide 4fastener releaseably connectin-g opposite edges of the elongated fabric fastener members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,222,832 Clark Nov. 26, 1940 2,637,087 Forrester May 5, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 247,220 Switzerland Feb. 28, 1947 

1. A DEVICE OF THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, AN ELONGATED SLIDE FASTENER INCLUDING A FABRIC STRIP ON EITHER SIDE THEREOF, A RESILIENT STRIP ATTACHED TO THE OUTSIDE EDGES OF EACH OF THE FABRIC STRIPS, AND A HOOK ATTACHED TO EACH OF THE RESILIENT STRIPS, SAID HOOK HAVING OPEN SIDES FACING EACH OTHER FOR RECEIVING ADJACENT PORTIONS OF AN UPPER PORTION OF A SHOE FOR MOUNTING THE HOOKS IN EYELETS OF A SHOE. 